This post is Part Four in my quest to defeat The Bossy Inbox and to take control of my days. ***

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” ~ Yogi Berra

About a year ago, I created a digital daily plannerbecause I was having a really hard time getting typical planners to fit my day, and the ones I looked at didn’t allow me to edit the document. Essentially, I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. (Cliché, I know!)

I have continued to tweak things so the planners leverage my available bandwidth. I’m happy to be able to offer this improved planner to my readers. Purchase now and you’ll be on your way to streamlined planning in less than 15 minutes!

If you’re not excited about that, consider how long planning usually takes you now. If it’s any more than 15 minutes, start thinking about what you could do with your newfound free time once you get this digital planner. That could be a lot of time to work on other projects…or go on another coffee run…or binge watch a show. You get the point!

Use code: CLIENTLOVE to receive 10% off through January 31, 2018

Here are just some of the features of this fully customizable digital planner:

30-minute time slots

90-minute working blocks followed by a 30-minute break (which can also serve as a much-needed buffer when work takes longer than the scheduled time)

The hours “worked” will automatically calculate from your entered starting and ending times

Calculation to determine the billable percentage of your day

Areas to track goals, on-deck, and more

Two fun emojis that you can copy and paste. Because sometimes shit happens.

Monthly projections (automatically updates the dates and corresponding day of the week, over/short for needed hours and more)

The best thing about this planner is the flexibility it gives you to make it 100% YOURS. Everything! The colors. The time slots. The reminder and goal tracking areas. All of it. Change your mind about something? Don’t worry. It’s incredibly easy to make changes.

I personally create mine in two-month intervals (Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, etc.) with the most current version bookmarked in Chrome so it’s easy to access. It’s basically the first thing I look at every morning and the last thing I look at when ending my day.

The video below gives an overview of the daily planning sheet. And video tours for the weekly and monthly tabs are included with your purchase.

But wait…are you a hard copy planner die-hard? I get it. Sometimes the digital version just can’t replace certain characteristics of the traditional format. So here are some good ol’ hard copy options to consider:

Next week I’ll be explaining why, after eight years in business, I opted to start tracking every minute I spend at my desk. Here’s a hint: It’s not just for the fun of it, though it has been very interesting to see how long everything actually takes (longer than I thought!).

***Why did I start with Part Four instead of Part One? Because. I can. OK, joking aside. I started with Part Four because I recognize there are readers who have an immediate need to get a planning solution in place. It doesn’t have to be a linear process.

One of the greatest weapons in a copywriter’s arsenal is, somewhat appropriately, bullets. Bullet points break up copy, get your point across succinctly, and are easier for readers to understand. They’re the time-stressed reader’s saving grace, which means they’re critical when you’re writing for a web audience whose attention span is somewhat less than that of your average squirrel.

It would be nearly impossible to have an article about bullet points that didn’t make full use of them, so let’s give it a whirl. Using the same information that we already put in the lead paragraph, let’s make some bullet points on why bullet points work.

Bullet points are a great copywriting tool because they:

Get your reader’s attention

Break up your copy for easy readability

Give bite-sized nuggets of information

Take up almost no time to read

Make the most of your reader’s attention span

Bullet points work.

So how do you use them effectively? Bullet points should be informative, persuasive, and brief. If your bullet point is a full paragraph, you might as well not use them at all. If you were summarizing the main highlights of each point for someone else, those are the nuggets of information you want your bullets to hit.

Effective bullet points:

Use powerful verbs to start each in order to create dynamism

Are brief

List the highlights of each information point

Take up only three to six lines – more are just as exhausting to the eye as paragraphs

Appear only once or twice an article – unless the article is about bullet points

As you’re probably aware, you’ve been most drawn to the bullet pointed lists in this article much more than you have to the main paragraphs. What you also may have noticed is that the paragraphs are easier to swallow when they’ve been broken up by bullet-pointed text that’s easier on the eyes. Our brains actually process brief spurts of information more easily than long paragraphs, but with that break of bullet points, our brains are rested and ready to tackle the next longer piece of information.

Readers like bullet points because they can:

Get the main points quickly

Understand what’s being offered in the least amount of time

Give their brains a break from long paragraphs of information

You can think of bullet points as the rest stops in a marathon. Running the whole way is daunting, but those rest stops give you a break and a burst of energy for the next stretch. In the same way, bullet points let your reader’s brains rest so they’re ready to tackle the next long paragraph – and that means they’re more likely to read all the way to the end of the article.

About the Author:Allison Nazarian is a writer who works closely with organizations of all sizes to put stories into words. Learn more about Allison and her services at AllisonN.com.

Many business owners don’t actually enjoy bookkeeping, which is why our virtual bookkeeping and accounting clients give us the honor of processing thousands of transactions for them each month. And we love every minute of it! That being said, I’m a huge proponent of saving even seconds, because this can add up to some substantial (time) savings. These “little” things let us give our bookkeeping clients very competitive rates for the high-quality work they deserve.

If you’re interested in saving time, too, I’m happy to fill you in on some little-known secrets that have helped us. In particular, here’s how to use some naming tricks to process your QuickBooks transactions a tad faster.

QuickBooks Online used to call this area of the software “Matching,” which essentially means we’re doing two different things with each transaction that pulls in from the banks (and PayPal).

Attaching a payee (vendor) name

Assigning a category (Chart of Account name)

Most small businesses have very similar types of expenses, but the naming of these categories can vary quite a bit. Let’s take a hotel stay, for example. Some refer to the category (Chart of Account name) as Hotel. Others refer to it as Lodging. Two words. Same meaning.

Not surprisingly, even these minor variations can slow things down when handling the matching–particularly when you have many clients–because it can be hard to remember all of these small nuances when you’re juggling mutiple clients. But you can streamline by making some simple tweaks to the Chart of Account names in QuickBooks Online. (Of course, please make sure this is OK with your client first!)

Make these changes to the Chart of Account (and use the brain cells you save for more complicated work!):

Hotel/Lodging

Airfare/Flights

Auto-Gas/Fuel

Finance Charges/Interest Expense

Charitable Contributions/Donations

Advertising/Promotion/Marketing

Dues/Subscriptions

Postage/Shipping

In an upcoming post, we’ll be discussing more ideas on how to save time when you’re working in Quickbooks. Get in touch with us if you need any help with your bookkeeping and accounting – we really love the catch up projects!

PS: We’ll be launching a on-demand course soon which will help you become savvy and efficient when working with Paypal + Quickbooks. We’ll need some beta testers. Want to be one of them? You can sign up to be notified – look in the footer. (Or you can send us a note through our contact page too)

Let’s talk about the actual mechanics of the copy you are writing for your Virtual Assistant business, or for your clients.

In general, you must know that people, especially the busy, successful, million-thoughts-per-minute people who likely make up a large part of your target market, scan words and pages and screens.

Most do not read anything word for word. No one has the time nor the patience to do so. Give the “meat” of what you are saying and selling up front. Even if you are writing a blog entry, your headline should say exactly what you are offering and providing in that particular blog entry.

Copywriting and marketing and the online world are not – or should not – be about building up to a big ‘aha!’ moment and a big finish. Let people know up front what you are going to tell them about and then follow through on that.

Here are some additional tips to keep in mind when you are writing your marketing copy:

Choose a headline that works, fits and makes sense. And when I say headline I mean anything from a headline on each of your web pages to a title of a blog entry or press release.

Depending on the format and length of the written piece, break it down into smaller sections, each headed by its own subhead.

Use shorter sentences and paragraphs. I rarely go beyond four sentences for a paragraph.

When in doubt, break it up. If you find yourself inundated with commas and semi-colons, chances are the sentence is taking on too much— divide and conquer

Use bullet-pointed lists to break up ideas both logistically and visually.

When possible, start each bulleted item with a strong action verb.

Once you have written the piece, scan it like a reader would. Read the headline, the subheads and the first word of each bulleted item only. See if you can get the meaning (or not).

About the Author:Allison Nazarian is a writer who works closely with organizations of all sizes to put stories into words. Learn more about Allison and her services at AllisonN.com.

The very concept of starting your virtual assistant business can be so overwhelming. There’s so much to think about…

What should I choose for a business name?

What kind of clients should I work with?

Do I need a website?

Wait, what about taxes?

So. Much. Stuff.

Maybe you’ve been doing what you can on your own, but you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere. And you’re not sure who to turn to with all of your questions.

Then I have a recommendation for the help you’ve been looking for. My friend and virtual assistant coach, Alicia Jay, has created an all-in-one affordable solution to help you finally set up the solid foundation you need for your virtual assistant business.

Quick note about Alicia if you’re not familiar with her. She started her virtual assistant business from scratch with NO experience running a business or working online, while raising her newborn son. She grew it to a successful business, and then switched gears to coach virtual assistants so that they could do the same.

And this particular program she’s created is comprehensive, giving you what you need to get started.